'By the end of this financial year we will have built around 60 new pub-restaurants in three years, and we have a clear site pipeline for future development.'

The company, which employes 12,500 people, also said that in brewing it had increased market share with its beer volumes up around 2 per cent on a year earlier. It also brews Banks's, Jennings, Wychwood, Ringwood,
Brakspear and Mansfield beers.